At the Aug. 4 meeting, district staff explained proposed revisions to attendance regulations so local practices align with a new Iowa law and state reporting rules. Staff emphasized that the changes are intended to comply with state requirements while treating families with “kindness, grace, and compassion.”

Ellie Harris Medina (attendance staff) reviewed the state guidance and said the district would change coding and some local procedures to match Senate File 2435. Medina summarized the state thresholds staff are using: schools send a letter after roughly 10% unexcused absences (about eight days per semester), require a meeting when unexcused absences reach about 12 days, and refer cases at about 20% (about 17 unexcused days in a semester) to the county attorney’s office for potential truancy charges. Medina told the board staff view those referrals as a last resort and described the process as an intervention tool rather than solely punitive.

Nut graf: The district is proposing three principal regulatory changes to follow state law and make local practice clearer to families: remove the prior five‑day family‑vacation excused period, adopt a case‑by‑case “soft‑drop” procedure for very long absences instead of the prior nine‑consecutive‑day automatic drop, and explicitly record most absences as unexcused in the state reporting system unless they meet statute exemptions.

Key discussion points and clarifications
- State exemptions: staff listed statutory excused reasons that remain excused for reporting (illness with doctor notes, nurse‑directed health removals, IEP/504 partial schedules, religious observances, legal obligations such as court appearances, and state‑allowed exceptions). Staff warned that many family‑requested absences (for example, college visits or vacations shorter than the statute’s reenrollment trigger) will be coded as unexcused for reporting purposes.
- Soft drop and data retention: staff said the district will use a “soft drop” procedure that preserves historical attendance in Infinite Campus (the district’s administrative database) but excludes unenrolled periods from the state reporting dataset (Panorama). Staff said Infinite Campus will retain soft‑drop days so administrators can still analyze students’ raw attendance history.
- Family communication: staff emphasized they will not send warning letters until a student reaches the statutory threshold (roughly eight unexcused absences per semester) and said staff will approach cases with family partnership and tailored supports.

Actions and next steps
- Staff presented these regulation revisions for board review and said they will return with a revised regulation at the next board meeting for formal consideration. The board did not adopt the regulation on Aug. 4.

Ending: Staff and board members agreed to continue engagement with families and the county attorney’s office while seeking legislative feedback about exemptions such as college visits; the district will present the revised regulations at a subsequent meeting.